International-Mindedness: More than a Buzzword?

This new international school year has been a year of firsts. It’s my first time teaching at an international school, my first time teaching Middle School, my first IB (International Baccalaureate) school, and my first ever UN Day. With these firsts comes some interesting thoughts and reflections.

I’ve always been a big fan of Aaron Sorkin’s TV series The Newsroom. In the first episode, the central protagonist, Will McAvoy, is confronted by a college student at a media conference who asks, “What makes America the greatest country in the world?” He responds with a tirade, explaining why America isn’t the greatest country in the world. 

I was recently at an IB workshop where the presenter asked us to write down the first word that came to mind when we heard the term international-mindedness. Without hesitation, I wrote down “buzzword.”

The sentiment later echoed around the workshop when shared by another.I felt like Will McAvoy in that moment, disavowing the notion that America could be the greatest country in the world—except I was disavowing the idea that international-mindedness really means anything. A slew of lip-service activities undertaken by schools came to mind, initiatives framed as global engagement but often reduced to superficial displays, designed more for school marketing brochures and website photos than for any meaningful cultural reflection.

And yet, I felt frustrated. Because I’m not that cynical. I don’t want to be. I’m hopeful about the future—about what international-mindedness could mean if we’re willing to commit to something real. 

Hope matters. It’s the foundation for sustainable action. Positive change doesn’t come from cynicism or performative gestures; it comes from agency. And agency only happens when we are deeply, genuinely hopeful—when we believe, even in the face of challenges, that something better is possible. Optimism isn’t naive; it’s necessary.

In their 2021 book Earthshot: How to Save Our Planet, Colin Butfield and Jonnie Hughes call on us to be optimistic. They urge us to recapture the same sense of hope and dreaming that helped humanity reach the moon. Two themes stood out to me when I read that book: a sense of urgency and a sense of deep hope.

Because here’s the truth: when cynicism or despair takes over, it doesn’t lead to action—it leads to paralysis. As McAvoy put it, “We aren’t the greatest country in the world... but we can be.”

So simply put, what’s getting in the way and what’s the solution? 

How do we move beyond international-mindedness as a mere buzzword toward something authentic, meaningful, and transformative?

I'll share Part 2 of this post with some ideas and strategies of how we can make international-mindedness a reality. 

Some ideas include: 

Redefining Multilingualism: Exploring how language learning is a journey toward transformation and empathy.

Inside Out Thinking: Using cultural reflexivity to help students reflect on their assumptions and bias, moving beyond surface-level celebrations toward genuine empathy and insight.

Action Based Learning:  Empowering students to identify issues they genuinely care about—and giving them practical tools and confidence to create meaningful change.